Zelle Has Turned Dollar-Starved Venezuela Into a Cashless Test Lab

Bloomberg (paywall)

PayPal and Venmo may have achieved the status of verbs in the U.S., but in Venezuela, it’s Zelle—or “Zell-ey”—that’s on everyone’s lips. Across Caracas, homemade signs that read Aceptamos Zelle (We accept Zelle) dangle in store windows and off produce stands. Computer printouts of the purple company logo are taped to cash registers in supermarkets, some of which have dedicated lines for customers paying with the app. The improvised signage is a hint that Venezuelans’ use of Zelle to provide relief from a rapidly depreciating currency and runaway inflation, while not prohibited, could certainly be described as off-label.”